Blumenthal Spends Big On TV Ads As His Opponent Watches

A well-known and well-funded incumbent, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on television ads in his race against a challenger with little name recognition.

This year's senate race is nothing like what Connecticut saw in 2010 and 2012, when Republican Linda McMahon poured a cumulative $100 million of her personal wealth into unsuccessful bids against Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. There have only been two polls conducted in the contest between Blumenthal and state Rep. Dan Carter but they both show the same result — a large lead for Blumenthal and that people don't know very much about Carter.

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The most recent poll this year, by Emerson College in early September, showed Blumenthal beating Carter 54-33 and with a 57 percent favorability rating. A combined 72 percent of voters were undecided about Carter or said they had never heard of him. This hasn't stopped Blumenthal from filling the air waves with campaign ads.

From Sept. 27 through Monday, Blumenthal's campaign spent more than $100,000 to air about 250 ads on the four local network stations: WTIC-TV, WTNH, WVIT and WFSB, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission. More ads are scheduled to run this week.

Blumenthal's first television ad, launched in July, tells the story of a Connecticut veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who committed suicide and praises him for working on a bill to bolster mental health and suicide prevention programs for veterans. The campaign aired a 30-second cut of the ad during the opening ceremonies of the Rio Olympics in early August at a cost of $10,000.

A second television ad, that began airing in September, pits Blumenthal against automaker General Motors, with the senator calling on them to be held accountable for faulty ignition switches connected to 100 deaths. Another ad launched last month talks about work Blumenthal has done to secure jobs at submarine maker Electric Boat in Groton.

"Senator Blumenthal is focused on his work standing up for the people of Connecticut against powerful special interests — and that's what our ads are about," said Marla Romash, a campaign advisor.

Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which studies political ads, said with two unpopular presidential candidates part of Blumenthal's strategy may be to remind voters that he's on the ballot this year too.

"Talking about the positive things that you do for the state ... you're giving people other reasons to get out and vote on Election Day," she said. Popular incumbents rarely mention their lesser-known opponents in political ads, Fowler said, lest they unintentionally raise their rivals' profiles.

Carter criticized Blumenthal of hiding behind his television ads and refusing to participate in multiple debates. The two candidates will face off on Oct. 23 on WFSB's "Face The State." Blumenthal's campaign has said it's considering other invitations.

"Right now [Blumenthal's] got all the money, he can put out anything he thinks will get him elected and hide from the other questions," Carter said. "It's not supposed to be that way. The people of Connecticut deserve more than one debate."

Carter's campaign released an ad attacking Blumenthal, but so far has only shared it on the web. The Republican state representative from Bethel had about $70,000 in his campaign account at the end of June, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Election Commission, compared to Blumenthal's $5.3 million. New fundraising filings will be released in mid-October.

"He certainly doesn't lose anything by doing it," Ronald Schurin, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut, said of Blumenthal's television advertising. "He has ample funds to do it. It may serve to increase a little bit his already high stature in Connecticut. And so I imagine the calculation is: why not?"

Television ads may be costly, but they hit a wide swath of voters, Fowler said, including those who may pay attention to politics or the news. And the cost per voter is less than other methods of outreach like door-to-door canvassing or mailers.

None of the state's congressional candidates have run television ads to date. The presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump aren't expected to advertise in Connecticut.